Computerized glasses developed by an Ottawa company are causing a worldwide sensation thanks to a YouTube video of a legally blind woman in Guelph, Ont., who donned the goggle-like spectacles to gaze in wonder at her newborn son.

The video of 29-year-old Kathy Beitz wearing eSight’s high-tech glasses in her hospital bed has attracted more than 2.4 million views since it was posted on YouTube on Jan. 21 by her sister, Yvonne Felix. Both have a degenerative eye condition called Stargardt’s disease and have only about two per cent of full sight.

News organizations around the world have picked up the story, with coverage as far away as India, Malaysia, South America and Japan.

“It’s become a bit of a worldwide phenomenon,” said Taylor West, eSight’s director of outreach. “The response has been truly incredible.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9crPvfcEy4&w=640&h=390]

At last count, West said, about 250 publications had picked up the story. “Just in the last couple of days, there’s been many thousands who have emailed us, saying they’d like a pair.”

eSight, which has research and production facilities in Kanata, began researching the computerized glasses about eight years ago. Commercial production began in the fall of 2013. About 140 people currently use the glasses, which sell for $15,000.

Company founder Conrad Lewis, a computer engineer, has two legally blind sisters who suffer from the same condition as Beitz.

“His thesis was, if technology can solve all these telecommunications problems, perhaps it could solve what he regarded as a greater problem, which was blindness,” West said.

I actually could see a cheque. I had never really seen what a cheque looks like. That’s how I knew it would work for me

Beitz, who has been legally blind since age 11, has 20/400 vision, meaning she can barely read the largest “E” on an eye chart. Because of macular degeneration, she also has large blind spots that obliterate most of her vision. But after donning eSight’s glasses, her vision has been tested at 20/20.

She first tried the glasses last year when her sister Yvonne — who also wears them and now works for eSight — gave her a pair “to fool around with,” Beitz said in an interview. “I actually could see a cheque. I had never really seen what a cheque looks like. That’s how I knew it would work for me.”

When her son Aksel was born Dec. 10, her sister made sure she had the glasses so she could see her new baby. When they brought Aksel into her room after her caesarean section, “it was amazing, honestly. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I wasn’t sure if I would be disappointed, if I wouldn’t be able to see him.”

But when she held him and saw his fingers and toes and “fine little features,” she was ecstatic. “I got to fall in love with him,” she said in the video.

“It was overwhelming because I got to recognize my husband and I in him. That was very special,” she said. And Aksel is thriving. “He’s a big and chubby baby now.”

The glasses have changed her life. Beitz can read stories to Aksel, and when she shops for clothing she can see the sizes and price tags. “I would have figured out a way to do it before, but now I don’t have to figure out a way. I just get to do it. And that is enormous.”

There are a few drawbacks. Beitz is unaccustomed to so much visual stimulation, so she gets headaches if she wears the glasses too much. As a result, she only wears them when she truly needs them.

The glasses aren’t covered by any public or private insurance, meaning that those who want them usually need to raise funds. eSight helps with that, West said.

Beitz also plans to raise funds for others, including a brother and another family member who need the glasses. “That’s the least I can do.”

Given the exploding demand, the company expects to expand production at its Kanata operation, which currently has only 10 employees. The response, West said, “is beyond our wildest dreams, We’re just blown away by how much people care about this story.”

Sam Roberts is coming to a beer label near you, if you’re in Ontario, at least.

This past weekend at the innovative and groundbreaking Session Craft Beer Festival, held in Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto, Spearhead Brewing came out on top in the Collaboration Nation contest, with their Sam Roberts Band Session Ale taking top honours — and an LCBO distribution deal later this year. It’s the second year that the retailer has partnered with local brewers to help jump-start a new brew. And the result, once again, was achieved democratically, with the 5,000-plus attendees of the fest voting for their favourite brew.

If Big Beer is all about bringing you a standard, McDonald’s-esque product from bar to bar, country to country, sponsored by John Doe sports league and promoted with billboards plastered with bikini-clad models touting a new “measure-the-cold” can, then craft beer is just about its opposite in every way, even if it does share a history and similar ingredients.

Ontario Craft Beer Week, which kicked off last Friday with Session and winds up this weekend at bars, restaurants and special events across the province, is all about celebrating the regional specificity and local cultures of experimentation that make craft craft. With its “real people, real beer” tagline this year, Ontario’s craft brewers are all about putting a face (and a storyteller) on its products. Ontario’s craft beer movement has swelled over the last 10 years to the point where it’s difficult to keep track of all the new brewers, let alone the new brews, one-offs, brewer-brewer and brewer-artist team-ups, coming out constantly from established and fledgling micros alike.

But that’s where a beer week, if it’s serving its purpose well, comes in: Introducing us beer lovers to new beers, new flavours, new stories and the brewers themselves. You know, an experience diametrically opposed to our everyday Beer Store experience of visiting a dirty, smelly space with a wall full of peeling labels and a bottle collector clamouring for their empties refund behind you.

Beer can be a hyper-local story when drinkers want it to be one, driven by a quest for the freshest pints, made with the best locally-sourced ingredients, and brought to the market by producers engaged with the economies and social lives of their communities. What’s nice about OCB week is it sees the brewers coming together themselves, in the spirit of competitiveness and collaboration, but also of cross-pollination. Ottawa brewers hustle around Toronto. Guelph and Waterloo suds experts kick it in Kingston. Everybody gets a sip.

Some of the best work that’s been done in recent years in Ontario has been the result of collaborations between brewers

Some of the best work that’s been done in recent years in Ontario has been the result of either collaborations between brewers in the province, or tie-ups between a brewer and some other external partner (Kissmeyer by Beau’s comes to mind as a standout). Spearhead Brewing themselves got started as a sort of de facto collaborator: They started brewing under contract on equipment owned by Cool Brewing. This practice has become more common as new brewers have looked for ways to enter Ontario’s red-tape-laden market with incurring the huge financial risks involved in owning and operating brewing equipment full-time themselves.

It’s easy to get discouraged by all the red tape and government liquor bureaucracy that governs what Canadians get to drink

No brewery is an island, no drinker is paddling alone: In Ontario’s rapidly maturing craft beer market the talk may have been politics for a while there recently, especially with the archaic retail system that persists (don’t hold your breath for its end), but the ultimate story is the juggernaut that’s been converting palates at events like these, one pint at a time, and making people expect more from every beer they drink. It’s easy to get discouraged by all the red tape and government liquor bureaucracy that governs what (and where) Canadians get to drink when it comes to local beers. It can be easier to get a beer from Japan than New Brunswick sometimes, and that’s frustrating. But the flip-side of that challenge is the adventure of discovering local brews where they were conceived …

So go on: Pick an event for you or your beer-loving loved one. There are free events, classes on grilling, meet-the-brewer affairs and guided tastings. Whatever you end up quaffing, share what you love and why with those around you — that’s the easiest way to show pride in Ontario’s beer bounty. Cheers!

WEDNESDAY

Beau’s Beer & Cheese
Six beers and six cheeses, paired and designed to enhance your experience of each? This event will convert veteran wine and fromage lovers from their folly.Free admission. 7 p.m. The Grad Club, 162 Barrie St., Kingston

Meet the Designer
This is our bonus Beau’s event, and perfect for those in Toronto. Vankleek Hill is known for its fair, its gingerbread, but probably most of all these days in Ontario, for Beau’s All Natural craft beer — and especially its trademark labels. This is a chance to meet Jordan Bamforth, Beau’s creative director, and browse prints from the brewery’s collection, framed and not, while sipping samples from the brewery.Free admission. 6 p.m. Telegramme Prints, 194 Ossington Ave., Toronto

Beer vs. Beer Dinner
One of the things Ontario’s brewers are known for beyond their love of collaborating and sharing war stories with fellow brewers is a healthy sense of competition. Two of Ontario’s now well-established craft beer outfits, Flying Monkeys of Barrie, and Mill St., which was founded in Toronto, go head to head, for a six-course tasting menu. It’ll feel like a marathon, but not one where you’re going to be winded at the end.Cost: TBD. 6:30 p.m. Corner Bar and Grill, 344 Richmond Rd., Ottawa

Brewery School Tours
Want to learn something this week? No problem. One of the coolest developments in Ontario’s craft beer scene in recent years has been the opening and development of the Niagara College brewmaster program. Tour the facilities especially built for this unique two-year academic program, sample the students’ work (naturally) and hear about how it all came to be.Free admission. Every at day @ 2 p.m. Niagara College Teaching Brewery, 135 Taylor Rd., Niagara-on-the-Lake

THURSDAY

Meet the Great Lakes Brewery Faces
OK, so, putting a face to a beer is a great thing. Suddenly you just feel like you’ve met the coaching staff of your favourite sports team, and they’re really happy you’re a fan. Wanna know something else? I’ve actually had the fortune of meeting Peter Bulut Jr., owner of GLB, which was recently named the 2014 Canadian Brewery of the Year for the second year in a row. Beyond being a man with a vision for his beers, Bulut is also a heckuva storyteller. And what would go better with a Limp Puppet Session IPA, or a Cider Barrel-Aged Farmhouse Ale than a good yarn about the brewing industry? Head brewer Mike Lackey will also be on hand at one of the GTA’s newest beer bars, so bring your nerdy homebrewer questions. And expect one-offs!Free admission. 6:30 p.m. Hungry Brew Hops, 211 Main St. S., Newmarket

The Beer Lovers Brewmasters Dinner
Joel Manning, brewmaster at Mill St., hosts this five-course dinner with pairings in the brewery’s stellar Beer Hall. If you haven’t been yet, this is the perfect excuse to visit one of Canada’s premiere beer-drinking venues. Along with the Alibi Room in Vancouver and Montreal’s original Dieu du Ciel brewpub, this atmosphere is the furthest thing from sports bar that I can think of. And the big bonus of visiting Mill St. on site is that you can expect to get to try at least four or five prototype beers that the brewery is test-driving. If you think they only make Organic and Tankhouse, this will be an education.Cost: $59.99 (plus tax, tip). 6 p.m. 21 Tank House Ln., Toronto

Battle of the Brew Bands
This is the second night in the annual tradition of brewers turning over their tuns for drumsticks and microphones. Always a popular evening for the vibes, it’s also held at one of the original must-go spots for craft beer in Toronto, The Only Café on the Danforth (check out their bottle selection). Participants this year include: The Lowest Boardroom (Steam Whistle); Buffalo (Mill Street Brewery); Clang (Great Lakes Brewery); Audio (Beau’s All Natural Brewery). And chances are they will have worked out the kinks in their sound on Wednesday, too, as a bonus.Free admission. 7:30 p.m. 972 Danforth Ave., Toronto

Pitch #4: Talks on Baseball featuring Jonah Keri
OK, so if you love craft beer, but can’t imagine spending a full three hours just talking about what’s in your glass, this is the perfect event for you. Assuming, that is, that you’re a bit of a baseball nerd. Left Field Brewery (one of Toronto’s newest additions to the scene) provides the pints, and Loft Kitchen provides the food. The baseball talk? That’s courtesy of some stellar voices, including Drunk Jays Fans editor Andrew Stoeten, Sportsnet reporter Michael Grange, and Expos historian and author Jonah Keri, author of recent well-received Up, Up, and Away, his history of Montreal’s ill-fated baseball franchise.Cost: $15. 7 p.m. 918 Bathurst St., Toronto

FRIDAY

Detour Sampling at The Iron Duke
Festivals and multiple brewer tap takovers can be a great way to find out what’s new in craft beer, but sometimes it’s nice to just sit down with one particular variety and get to know it really well. Muskoka Brewing’s new Detour, a decidedly hoppy yet smooth take on the American IPA is the definition of sessionable, and it’s also emblematic of Ontario’s maturing craft beer lineup. It’ll remind some of Flying Monkey’s Hoptical Illusion, yet with more sprightly pine notes. Still, there’s no replacement for trying it yourself.Free admission. 5 p.m. The Iron Duke, 207 Wellington St., Kingston

Summer Nights in the City
Four breweries bring their take on “the best beer for a hot summer’s night” to one of the most established craft beer watering holes in Ontario. Lake of Bays Brewery, Sawdust City, Side Launch and Northwinds will each be on hand with a special concoction at C’est What.Free admission. 5 p.m. 67 Front St. East, Toronto

SATURDAY

Cameron’s Brewing Grill School 101
OK, so you forgot Father’s Day last weekend. Dad’s still a bit miffed. Well, do some damage control and them some by buying him a ticket to Cameron Brewing’s Grill School 101, where chef Lee McWright, a champion American barbecue maverick who will provide tutelage in marinating, grilling, baking on the grill and pizza-making. The best part? The beer’s included in the course, fresh on site at the brewery itself, and the whole day ends with a barbecue, naturally. Dad will wish you forgot his big day every year.Cost: $99 per person. 1 p.m.-6 p.m. 1165 Invicta Dr., Oakville

Burlington Beer Fest Village Square Takeover
In previous years, Session closed out OCB week, but I get the feeling a lot of people felt “beered out” by that point, so organizers chose to start the week with the jewel this year, and I have to endorse that. Still, if you’re looking for a festival to conclude the week with, consider Burlington’s gathering with craft beer samples, live entertainment, buskers and featured eats from local restos. You never know; you could stumble across your new favourite beer!Free admission. 1 p.m.-5 p.m. 1-422 Pearl St., Burlington

The University of Guelph student who attempted suicide by setting fire to his dorm room while hundreds watched live on a webcast is now facing charges.

Guelph police charged the 21-year-old man with arson-disregard human life, the police force said in a statement Thursday.

The young man rescued by firefighters in the incident and was taken to hospital with serious injuries. Damage from the incident was in the thousands of dollars.

The dorm was evacuated and at least 30 students had to receive alternative accommodation as exam period started. Guelph police said two of its officers and two campus police officers were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation in relation to the incident.

The Orangeville man will appear in court on January 24, 2014.

The National Post is not naming the young man.

Need help? Call Kids Help Phone at 1-800-668-6868 or reach out online atkidshelpphone.ca

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/12/12/university-of-guelph-student-who-attempted-suicide-in-live-webcast-now-facing-arson-charges/feed/0stdA screenshot taken from a video of a young man who claimed to be attempting suicide. Firefighters rescued him from the smoke-filled room.Concert Review: Islands sold-out gig was a love-in for Nick Thorburn and crew at the Garrisonhttp://news.nationalpost.com/2013/10/11/concert-review-islands-sold-out-gig-was-a-love-in-for-nick-thorburn-and-crew-at-the-garrison/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/10/11/concert-review-islands-sold-out-gig-was-a-love-in-for-nick-thorburn-and-crew-at-the-garrison/#commentsFri, 11 Oct 2013 21:49:40 +0000http://arts.nationalpost.com/?p=130341

A prodigal son of Canadian indie rock, of non-biblical sorts, returned to Toronto on Thursday evening. And it was good. Very good.

Nick Diamonds — a.k.a. Nick Thorburn, a.k.a. the creative force and mastermind behind the much loved, much missed Unicorns of the early part of last decade, and now, since 2005, of the chimeric and chameleon-like Islands — was in fine form in a vintage SNL jacket alongside his mates from Guelph’s The Magic, brothers Evan and Geordie Gordon, at a tiny, sweaty sold-out show at the Garrison on Dundas West.

If fellow Montrealers Godspeed! You Black Emperor — especially in the wake of their recent screed against the phony nature of Canada’s music industry and its self-proclaimed tastemakers — are the didactic and theoretical side of dissent from mainstream boringness in this country, then it could easily be said that Thorburn embodies the rebellion against the establishment in practice (of course, Godspeed! very much practises what they preach in their careers, but I digress). Thorburn’s enfant terrible image and ethos both in music (and his sheer prodigiousness) added to his New Order-like aversion to self-promotion bear witness to his drive behind Islands as a living musical enterprise. Videos like the one below (starring Bill Hader and Michael Cera) give Islands’ inherent sarcasm a coolly combed charm, not unlike the band’s material itself. It adds up amazingly to art, and not just a career, or live shows, or LPs or T-shirts.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaPvG-RkMwE&w=620&h=379]

Now, that said, it’s not as if Islands hasn’t been around these parts at all in recent memory (I can count at least two shows in the last couple of years), but it does seem there’s been some distance between Thorburn and the places he and his ensembles used to tread in Southern Ontario and Quebec. Since an absolute clusterf–k of a set in 2008 at Guelph’s Hillside Festival, when the band was touring Arm’s Way, and Hillside organizers signed them as well-deserving headliners, only to pull the rug from the band after 15 minutes of a 45-minute set in case someone in suburban Guelph (kilometres away from the venue) were to launch a noise complaint (the horror!), the band’s footprint here has been a lot smaller in terms of live shows, or so it seems. They’ve toured extensively overseas and on the West Coast in recent months, and their sound has … well, put simply: Thorburn’s ability to soak up the musical cultures around him and integrate them into his own work are still very much on display, all the time, and gaining steam as years go by. There wasn’t much, if any, fat on the bones of this well-rounded, perfectly curated set, with the band moving easily between songs they’d recorded together, and tracks from the previous lineups of Islands. Cohesiveness would be a good word, were it not so stodgily in opposition to the band’s feel and sheer sense of fun while performing. (Memo to Toronto concertgoers: dancing can be fun.) A perfect moment was had by the crowd and band alike when Thorburn complained loudly of the lack of towels for sweat on stage while removing his jacket and proceeding to move steadily out towards the crowd, chiding the cameras while wrapping the mic up like a snake and turning the Garrison into his personal cabaret. Mind you, getting to see this act in an intimate spot like the Garrison felt like a true treat for longtime fans, myself included. I counted at least a half dozen disappointed, disorganized hipsters being turned away for lack of tickets when I arrived shortly after 10 p.m. Tough luck.

A rock collective that Thorburn frequently builds up and dismantles like one might a pop-up film set or travelling circus or performance art piece, all according to the needs of the music at hand and current creative alliances, Islands in its current incarnation is as well-oiled a melody machine as any previous lineup of the band I’ve had the fortune of witnessing, moving between instruments, and hitting synths and keys perfectly, and with live flourishes, and in many ways, although change is the only governing principle of the band, both in its music and its musicians, it would be great to see this gang stick together. Thorburn’s voice mixes well with the brothers’ supporting woos, and ooohs, too, and the playfulness of their instrumentation onstage is a testament to having a couple of years together under their belts.

Having been on the West Coast for a few years now (the band is supporting Ski Mask, the second album Islands has put out since Thorburn move to La-La Land — this time a self-released effort), the effects of California living and its eclectic music scenes and history are rubbing off in interesting ways on Thorburn, who was already quite the showman before departing. Rockabilly rhythms, surf, rag time, punk — Pitchfork might regularly complain that Thorburn seems to be going in eight different directions on every record, or even song, but this … this is the beauty of Islands DNA. Surprise and delight. Remember when we just expected that from pop music?

Oh, and the show? Thorburn and crew strode onto stage and immediately launched into a generous, nearly 90-minute set (tickets were $12.50) that was set alight by Wave Forms, a wonderful piano melody that shows off some of the maturation that’s come for Thorburn on the West Coast. The songs that followed included a wide swath of Islands material, much of it geared to the juxtaposition of Thorburn’s thoughtful sardonic lyrics alongside truly danceable pop… tracks such as Creeper, Don’t Call Me Whitney, Bobby, and Disarming the Car Bomb, all playing together in a lovely way with tracks such as Can’t Feel My Face, Nil, and Becoming the Gunship of more recent vintage. If he wanted to, Thorburn could put Islands fans through a meat-grinder that would rival Bright Eyes or Morrissey with utterly heartbreaking stuff. But at the sweet yet sour centre of Islands is a thumb-in-your-face aesthetic, a “yeah, we’re depressed and down and beaten, but we’re going to dance about it now, got it?” attitude. The encore of Hallways, the standout dance pop off otherwise bleak and beautiful A Sleep and A Forgetting, next to the opus Swans (Life After Death) was both crowd-pleasing, but more importantly than that, seemed to be really, really satisfying for the trio, with Nick’s usually somewhat haunting stage presence replaced by a sincere wailing calm, a sureness, a smug creative mastery that only a prodigal son, who’s always been on the run, can exude. Come back soon, please.

Oh, and the set list? Some twentysomethings made off with it like they’d won the lottery … but there’s nothing wrong with a little bit of enthusiasm like that, right?

The ruling cleared the Conservative party and its candidates of any effort to mislead voters, but said the most likely source of information used to make the calls was the party’s voter database, accessed by a person or persons unknown.

But the judge wouldn’t go so far as to overturn the results.

“The scale of the fraud has to be kept in perspective,” Mosley wrote in the decision.

“The number and location of the complaints received by Elections Canada from across Canada indicates that the voter suppression effort was geographically widespread but, apart from Guelph, thinly scattered.”

The ruling left both sides in the dispute — the Conservatives in one corner, the voters who fielded the calls in the other — claiming victory of a sort.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred ChartrandSandra McEwing, left, of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Peggy Walsh Craig, of North Bay, Ont., two applicants in the election fraud cases during the last federal election, share their experiences during a news conference in Ottawa, Wednesday November 21, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand

Six ridings were involved: Vancouver Island North in British Columbia; Yukon; Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar in Saskatchewan; Elmwood-Transcona and Winnipeg South Centre in Manitoba; and Nipissing-Timiskaming in Ontario.

Craig said she joined the suit because she was upset.

“I was appalled that someone tried to manipulate the May 2011 federal election in my riding,” she said at a news conference.

At least one per cent of eligible voters did not vote in 2011 because they received one of these fraudulent calls

“I feel completely vindicated by the ruling.”

Garry Neil, executive director of the Council of Canadians, said the ruling shows that fraud was widespread.

“At least one per cent of eligible voters did not vote in 2011 because they received one of these fraudulent calls,” Neil said. The council still wants to find out who was responsible and ensure it doesn’t happen again, he added.

Elections Canada is also investigating fraudulent robocalls, stemming from complaints that have surfaced in 56 ridings across the country.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/05/31/voters-seeking-to-overturn-2011-election-results-will-not-take-robocalls-case-to-supreme-court/feed/1stdExecutive Director of the Council of Canadians Garry Neil speaks about the Federal Court ruling on election fraud during a news conference Friday in Ottawa.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred ChartrandCan quinoa be grown in Ontario? Guelph researchers explore possibilityhttp://news.nationalpost.com/2013/05/03/can-quinoa-be-grown-in-ontario-guelph-researchers-explore-possibility/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/05/03/can-quinoa-be-grown-in-ontario-guelph-researchers-explore-possibility/#commentsFri, 03 May 2013 15:07:48 +0000http://life.nationalpost.com/?p=106514

GUELPH, Ont. — Ontario farmers may be able to grow some crops native to South America as the result of research being conducted on quinoa and amaranth.

Scientists with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada are looking at whether the foods, which have become popular in North America for their gluten-free and nutritional profiles, can be adapted to the Ontario climate, soils and environment.

Rong Cao, a scientist at AAFC’s Guelph Food Research Centre, has been assessing how the environment and genetics affect their nutritional and antioxidant values as part of a project being led by the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association.

“If we can produce quinoa and amaranth in Ontario, it can give local farmers lucrative new crops to grow and give consumers a healthy local product to buy,” Cao said Thursday in a release.

He first studied the nutritional value of green and purple amaranth leaves, which are used as a vegetable in many cultures. He found the more highly pigmented purple leaves had higher levels of antioxidants than the green ones. Similar results have been found with quinoa leaves.

Quinoa has a complete essential amino acid profile (amino acids are the building blocks of protein) and has many nutritional benefits. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has declared this year the International Year of Quinoa.

Cao’s research will continue for the next two years at the Guelph Food Research Centre, one of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s network of 18 research centres.

Several members of the Guelph Conservative riding association have left the group because they are unhappy with the way the central party reacted when local election worker Michael Sona was charged in connection with a fraudulent robocall that sent hundreds of Guelph, Ont., residents to the wrong poll on election day.

Sona, 24, is to face a single charge of “having wilfully prevented or endeavoured to prevent an elector from voting at an election.” Sona, who was 22 at the time of the election, says he is innocent, and has done media interviews complaining that the Conservative party is trying to make him the fall guy for what happened in Guelph.

It’s a message that appears to have connected with some local Conservatives.

HandoutMarty Burke, the candidate in the last election, has left the board that runs the local Conservative riding association, as has his wife, Trish, and several other longtime volunteers.

Marty Burke, the candidate in the last election, has left the board that runs the local Conservative riding association, as has his wife, Trish, and several other longtime volunteers. Burke could not be reached for comment, but sources say local Conservatives are upset that the party welcomed the news that Sona was charged.

“In 2011 we reached out to Elections Canada when we heard of wrongdoing in Guelph and did all we could to assist them,” said the statement party spokesman Fred DeLorey when Sona was charged. “We are pleased that Elections Canada’s work has progressed to this point.”

When Sona was charged last month, Burke told the Guelph Tribune that he was surprised.

“I am very surprised that this charge has resulted from the (Elections Canada) investigation,” he said. “I am sanguine – as I am sure Michael must be as well – with regard to the final outcome. A charge is not a conviction – not even close.”

On Saturday, the riding association had an event at the Guelph Golf and Curling Club to focus on the Conservatives winning Guelph in the next election.The guest speaker was John Carmichael, Conservative MP for Don Valley West, who told local supporters how he managed to win his riding on his third attempt.

Carmichael said Wednesday that he didn’t hear anything about people leaving the riding association.

“I didn’t discuss any of that,” he said. The Burkes did not attend the event. Neither the president nor the communications director of the riding association replied to emails, and DeLorey said he had no comment.

Aaron Lynett / National PostDemonstrators protest in Toronto after details of the robocalls scandal came to light.

Sona’s lawyer, Norm Boxall, is expected to appear in Guelph Friday without Sona. At the time that Sona was charged, Boxall called for a public inquiry into the affair.

“I cannot help but comment, that if the government was interested in the public being fully informed and the issue of robocalls being properly addressed, a full public inquiry would be called, rather than a charge laid against a single individual who held a junior position on a single campaign and who clearly lacked the resources and access to the data required to make the robocalls,” he said.

Elections Canada has said that their investigation into both the Guelph robocall and other calls across the country are ongoing.

OTTAWA – A junior Conservative campaign worker in Guelph, Ont., has been charged under the Elections Act in relation to fraudulent robocalls made during the 2011 election campaign.

Elections Canada said in a release Tuesday that Michael Sona, 24, has been “charged with having wilfully prevented or endeavoured to prevent an elector from voting at an election.”

Sona was a young employee on the campaign of local Conservative candidate Marty Burke in Guelph.

“The strong public reaction to the fraudulent telephone calls made to electors in Guelph during the May 2011 general election shows how deeply disturbed Canadians were by what happened,” Yves Cote, the commissioner of Elections Canada, said in the release.

“I hope that the charge we filed today will send a strong message that such abuses under the Canada Elections Act will not be tolerated.”

Glen McGregor and Stephen Maher speaking with Sona in December

Elections Canada has been investigating hundreds of fraudulent robocalls in Guelph and dozens of other ridings across Canada that purported to be from the elections regulator.

Voters were told their polling stations had been moved, part of an alleged scam to suppress the vote. The fraudulent calls appeared to target identified non-Conservative voters.

Sona was initially fingered by sources in the Conservative party but has loudly and repeatedly asserted he was being made a scapegoat by party brass.

His lawyer, Norm Boxall, repeated that allegation in a statement Tuesday.

“Although the charge is disappointing, it represents an opportunity for Mr. Sona to finally address the allegations in a court as opposed to in the media and resolve it permanently,” Boxall said in an email.

“If the government was interested in the public being fully informed and the issue of robocalls being properly addressed, a full public inquiry would be called, rather than a charge laid against a single individual who held a junior position on a single campaign and who clearly lacked the resources and access to the data required to make the robocalls.”

Just last week Sona went on the social networking site Twitter to say: “not easy 2 move on if ppl still falsely pointing @ u even tho evidence doesn’t fit. Needs resolved in court, one way or other.”

Marc Mayrand, the chief electoral officer, has said Elections Canada has almost 1,400 complaints from more than 200 of the country’s 308 ridings.

Julie Oliver/Postmedia NewsAbout 200 protesters called Canadians Against Electoral Fraud took to Parliament Hill in March 2012 to protest against the ongoing "robocalls" issue. Here, Jason Brown from Gatineau wears a "Fight for Democracy" sign on Parliament Hill.

Last week, Mayrand released a series of recommendations he said are urgently needed before the next election in order to prevent another round of false or misleading election phone calls.

Conservative party spokesman Fred DeLorey said in a statement the party was “pleased” with Tuesday’s development.

“In 2011 we reached out to Elections Canada when we heard of wrongdoing in Guelph and did all we could to assist them,” said the statement.

“We are pleased that Elections Canada’s work has progressed to this point.”

Delorey insisted the party “ran a clean and ethical campaign and does not tolerate such activity.”

“The party was not involved with these calls and those that were will not play a role in any future campaign,” said the statement.

Neither Elections Canada — which has been investigating the matter since before the May 2, 2011, election date — nor the public prosecutors’ office would comment on the nature of the charge.

The Guelph courthouse also would not produce a copy of the charges because the court did not yet have confirmation that Sona had been served, a court employee said late Tuesday.

Sona resigned his parliamentary job with Conservative MP Eve Adams in February 2012 after he was named by Sun TV as a suspect in the robocalls affair.

Sona has insisted he did not have access to the party’s computerized database that was needed to set up the automated phone calls in Guelph.

Related

Guelph Police Chief Bryan Larkin says the investigation into Kovach’s death is ongoing, but he says she was responding to a call for assistance from another officer.

He says the other officer had made a traffic stop and was having difficulties with a drug suspect.

Larkin says the call to Kovach for back-up was “fairly common.”

Tuesday and Wednesday’s visitations will be held at the Gilbert MacIntyre and Sons Funeral Home and Chapel.

A public funeral will be held on Thursday at the Sleeman Centre in Guelph, which hundreds of visiting police officers are expected to attend.

Kovach, a four-year member, was the daughter of longtime Guelph councillor Gloria Kovach. Jennifer Kovach was known for her love of animals, caring for rescue dogs, and for her love of children. In an obituary, family members said Kovach would be remembered for “her gregarious smile, her kindness and her ability to ‘live life loud.'”

“I cannot say enough about what an incredible human being she was,” he said at a press conference.

“There are no words to express our sorrow. There are no words to express our sadness.”

Kovach was responding to a call when her cruiser hit a Guelph Transit bus shortly after 12:30 a.m.

The bus had no passengers at the time and the driver, who had only minor injuries, provided “significant care” to Kovach, but after firefighters managed to extract her from her cruiser and she was taken to hospital, she was pronounced dead, Larkin said.

There was a light snowfall at the time and investigators are looking into whether road conditions were a factor, Larkin said.

“Const. Kovach was responding to a call for service in assisting another officer with a frontline call,” he said.

“Regrettably, we believe [she] lost control of her cruiser and crossed the centre line and struck a transit bus.”

Kovach, who loved her dogs and riding motorcycles, was at the start of a promising career, fulfilling her childhood dream to be a police officer, Larkin said.

“I think that from a perspective of the chief, one of the greatest challenges is to see somebody with so much potential, with so much energy, taken from us so soon,” he said.

“If you talk to the members of her platoon…. Jennifer didn’t come to work, she came to make a difference in the city of Guelph. She came to touch the people of the city of Guelph and she came to actually give back.”

Kovach had been with the force for four years.

Her family likely instilled in her the value of public service, Larkin said. Kovach was the daughter of Gloria Kovach, a longtime city councillor and former president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

Mayor Karen Farbridge expressed her condolences to the Kovach family in a statement Thursday morning.

“There are no words that can adequately express our sorrow over their tragic loss,” she wrote.

“We also recognize this is a very difficult time for our Guelph Police Service who have lost a member of their service. We would like to express our gratitude for their brave service, and assure them that Constable Kovach will always be remembered for her sacrifice to keep our community safe.”

Kovach is the third officer to die in the line of duty in the history of the Guelph Police Service, and the only one since 1964.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said she was deeply saddened to hear of Kovach’s death.

“She was so young, with such a promising career ahead of her and her presence will be missed on the job and throughout her community,” Wynne said in a statement.

“Ontario owes a debt of gratitude to Const. Kovach and all of our police officers, who do so much to serve and protect the people of this province.”

Hearst replied, “I wouldn’t vote for them if they were the only politician on the ballot,” and the operator politely ended the call.

On election day, after they voted, Ferance and Hearst received another call.

This caller claimed to be from Elections Canada. He told Ferance his polling station had been moved to a location about 20 kilometres away.

Ferance told the caller he was mistaken.

“It’s wrong because, A, I just voted. B, I live next door to the voting station, and C, I can still see people coming and going,” he recalled in an interview in April.

It’s wrong because, A, I just voted. B, I live next door to the voting station, and C, I can still see people coming and going

In Federal Court in Ottawa on Monday, a lawyer representing Ferance — along with voters in five other ridings who say they also received deceptive calls — will ask a judge to overturn the election results in their ridings.

The lawyer leading the challenge, Steven Shrybman, will argue that the elections ought to be set aside because of an orchestrated voter-suppression scheme, a deliberate attempt to stop people from voting, mostly by calling them and giving them misleading information about the location of their polling stations.

The litigation is backed by the left-of-centre advocacy group, the Council of Canadians, and targets six ridings all won by close margins by Conservatives, including Jay Aspin, who beat Liberal incumbent Anthony Rota by 18 votes in the Ferance’s riding, Nipissing-Timiskaming.

In the courtroom, Shrybman will face Arthur Hamilton, the lawyer for the Conservative MPs. He will argue that the applicants can’t prove that they were disenfranchised because they all voted, and they haven’t managed to prove that the result was affected by fraud.

The hearings will mark the first time a court has looked into allegations of voter suppression since Postmedia News and the Ottawa Citizen first reported on Elections Canada’s “robocall” investigation in February.

The reports drew public attention to an apparent pattern of voter suppression calls and prompted a nationwide investigation into calls like the one Ferance received. As the Federal Court case is argued, Elections Canada continues to investigate robocalls made in the riding of Guelph and live and recorded calls reported by voters across the country.

The applicants in the Federal Court cases must meet a difficult legal burden, proving that any “irregularity, fraud, corrupt practice or illegal practice” was enough to change the outcome of the votes.

The litigation is backed by the left-of-centre advocacy group, the Council of Canadians, and targets six ridings all won by close margins by Conservatives

Proving that is tough, as former Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj found out this year, when the Supreme Court of Canada rejected his attempt to have the election result in Etobicoke Centre overturned because of administrative errors that cast doubt on some of the ballots cast in that Toronto riding.

But Shrybman has a lot more evidence than he did when he launched the lawsuit, and he has won a series of legal skirmishes that could have killed the case.

In an April interview with the Toronto Star, Hamilton predicted the court would quickly shut down the case.

“They don’t have any back-up,” he said. “This is a publicity stunt.”

They don’t have any back-up. This is a publicity stunt

In July, though, the federal court rejected Hamilton’s argument. Federal prothonotary Martha Milczynski ruled that the calls could shake public confidence in the system.

“Far from being frivolous or vexatious, or an obvious abuse, the applications raise serious issues about the integrity of the democratic process in Canada and identify practices that, if proven, point to a campaign of activities that would seek to deny eligible voters their right to vote and/or manipulate or interfere with that right being exercised freely,” she ruled.

The court also rejected a motion from Hamilton that would have required the applicants to present a $260,000 surety, and refused to rule as inadmissible the key to Shrybman’s case: a study from EKOS pollster Frank Graves, who found that opposition supporters in the target ridings were more likely to report having received a deceptive call than either Conservatives or opposition supporters in other ridings.

Shrybman maintains the Graves study proves that the results were affected by voter suppression calls. The Conservatives paint Graves as a partisan opponent and attack the validity of his work, although he has received the backing of experts Michael Adams and Neil Nevitte.

Shrybman also has an Annette Desgagne, a woman who worked for RMG, the call centre company contracted by the Conservatives, who says she was alarmed at being asked to make what appeared to be deceptive calls. Her testimony was contradicted by that of RMG CEO Andrew Langhorne.

Last month, Elections Canada handed two batches of fresh evidence to Shrybman.

First was a series of internal emails that show the agency contacted the Conservatives during the campaign to express concern about deceptive calls.

Secondly, the agency gave Shrybman the first results of a national investigation into the calls.

Elections Canada handed over court documents detailing 87 complaints from voters in six provinces, most of whom report receiving fake poll-moving calls, some from live callers, others robocalls, like the “Pierre Poutine” call that sent hundreds of voters to the wrong polling station in Guelph, On.

The complaints so far outlined in the court documents concern only the calls received by voters who get their home phone service from Shaw and Videotron: only about 7.5% of the total complaints. At least one more document — concerning complaints from those who get their phone service from Rogers — is likely to be released soon.

At least one more document — concerning complaints from those who get their phone service from Rogers — is likely to be released soon

How much weight to give all the evidence will be decided by Justice Richard Mosley, who was appointed to the bench by former prime minister Jean Chretien, and who previously put the government of Stephen Harper in a politically awkward position with a ruling that found Omar Khadr’s human rights had been violated by his detention by the Americans.

For the Conservative Party, there’s more at stake than just the jobs of six MPs. If the court voids the results in a single riding, the finding could reignite the robocalls scandal and shake public confidence in the electoral system.

Even if the court rejects the bids for new votes in the six ridings, a finding of wrongdoing by the judge could still be politically damaging for the Tories, leading to renewed calls for a public inquiry.

But a clear win in the cases would give the Conservatives a new defence of robocalls allegations as the Elections Canada investigations proceed.

Although the Federal Court case has no bearing on the ongoing investigations in Guelph and elsewhere — which could result in criminal charges – the Tories would likely blur this distinction to rebuff opposition attacks. The party used the same tactic in the in-and-out scandal over advertising purchases in the 2006 election before it eventually pleaded guilty to Elections Act violations.

For Hearst and Ferance, the fact that the case is proceeding is a cause for optimism.

Hearst said Thursday that she has no idea who called her husband and told him his polling station had moved, but she is believes that someone tried to trick them and she is glad a court is considering that.

“We shouldn’t tolerate any efforts to mess around with the vote,” she said. “It’s just such a dangerous thing to get started on. If you accept the first infraction the next one becomes easier for them, for whoever wants to do that.

“Whoever did it, for whatever reason, it was wrong.”

ROBOCALL FAQ

Q. Who’s suing whom and why?A. Voters from across Canada are suing Elections Canada, asking a judge to overturn the 2011 election results in six ridings, all won narrowly by Conservative candidates.

Q.Why would the judge do that? What’s wrong with the elections in those ridings?A. In the last few days of the election, the applicants say they all received phone calls falsely telling them their polling stations moved, as did hundreds of other Canadians. The applicants believe that someone was making those calls to discourage supporters of opposition parties from voting, which affected the results.

Q.Can they prove that?A. Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley will weigh the evidence and make that decision, beginning Monday morning. He can order new elections in any or all of the six ridings, or dismiss the application.

Q.What kind of evidence do they have?A. They have court documents from an Elections Canada investigation that show people across Canada received deceptive calls, some from live callers and some from robocalls, telling them their polling stations had moved when they hadn’t.

They also have an affidavit from a Conservative call centre worker who raised alarms about deceptive calls, emails showing that Elections Canada warned the Conservatives about “mischief” calls, and a survey showing opposition supporters report receiving deceptive calls at a higher rate than Conservative supporters.

Q.What do the Conservatives think about all this?A. They are vigorously opposing the lawsuit, which Conservative Party spokesman Fred DeLorey calls “a transparent attempt to overturn certified election results simply because this activist group doesn’t like them.”

Q.Wait. What activist group?A. The left-leaning Council of Canadians is funding the lawsuit.

Q.What do the Conservatives say about the evidence presented?A. They aren’t impressed. They tried to prevent the court from considering the court documents and emails from Elections Canada, produced an affidavit from a call centre executive that contradicts the testimony of the call centre worker, and they have tried to discredit the survey that suggests opposition supporters were targeted.

Q.Will the case settle the robocalls issue?A. No, it will only determine whether calls changed in the outcome in six ridings. Elections Canada is continuing to investigate 1,399 complaints and could recommend laying charges if they find wrongdoing, regardless of what happens in these cases.

Q.Which are the ridings are being contested in this case?A. Elmwood-Transcona (Manitoba), Nipissing-Timiskaming (Ontario), Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar (Saskatchewan), Vancouver Island North (BC), Winnipeg South Centre (Manitoba) and Yukon (Yukon).

Q.Does this have anything to do with the “Pierre Poutine” calls in Guelph.A. Guelph is not one of the ridings being contested although the court will consider sworn statements prepared by the Elections Canada investigator probing the Guelph robocalls.

Q.When and where is this happening?A. The case will be heard by the Federal Court of Canada in Ottawa beginning next week. A decision would not likely be issued until next year, probably in the spring. Any appeal of the decision would go directly to the Supreme Court.

Postmedia News

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/12/07/robocalls-elections-canada/feed/1stdProtesters gather and chant at Toronto's Yonge Dundas Square, Sunday afternoon, March 11, 2012, on what organizers are calling the National Day of Action Against Election Fraud. Elections Canada is reviewing more than 31,000 reports of Canadians receiving robocalls.Burglar returns family’s stolen goods with apology note. Adds in $50 for broken doorhttp://news.nationalpost.com/2012/08/01/guelph-police/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/08/01/guelph-police/#commentsWed, 01 Aug 2012 17:41:16 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=199590

When a Guelph, Ont., couple woke up last Friday, they found their digital camera and Xbox console in a plastic bag on the front porch. According to the attached letter, they’d been robbed the night before — and the thief had been having second thoughts.

“I compromised your feelings of safety in your own home,” read the anonymous letter, headlined “apology,” and addressed to the “family I have wronged.”

“I’ve been having a very tough time financially lately and I made the worst mistake of my life.”

Related

The package included $50, apparently for repairs to a window screen. So they checked the back of the house, and found one of the screens had been ripped.

Even though they say this is the first time they’ve committed a crime, how do you know? But everything was returned, and that in itself is exceptional

According to Guelph Police, the family believes they were walking their dog at the time of the burglary.

“They were surprised,” Sgt. Douglas Pflug said. “They didn’t know their home had been violated.”

Sgt. Pflug said police are still looking for the culprit, but he couldn’t comment on whether the suspect would face criminal charges without knowing the thief’s criminal history. According to the letter, it was the person’s first offence. “I can’t reveal myself since getting caught would ruin my life,” the note read.

“Even though they say this is the first time they’ve committed a crime, how do you know?” said Sgt. Pflug. “But everything was returned, and that in itself is exceptional.”

News of last week’s crime, and the thief’s subsequent apology, broke on Wednesday, starting debate among neighbours on the quiet suburban street that backs onto a park and ravine.

Guenther Koch was discussing with his wife on Wednesday about whether the thief had done the right thing. His theory is the burglar was a youth, judging from the items that were taken — a video game console and a camera worth over $1,000.

“If it was kids, and the parents were behind this, I feel the parents should have taken the kid to the house,” Mr. Koch said from his garage. “I would have marched by child next door and made him fess up, then said the 50 bucks is coming out of his allowance.”

The family declined to comment about the break-in.

The episode comes on the heels of a Statistics Canada study that ranked Guelph as the safest city in Canada.

It also falls near the anniversary of a 2011 incident, where Guelph police found a similar letter attached to stolen goods from a recent series of car thefts. The apology was signed by “Two stupid kids” and included a list of addresses the two had robbed, helping police to return the items to the owners.

I’m the one who committed the serious crime against your family, and I want to apologize from the bottom of my heart.

I comprimised your feelings of safety in your own home and privacey and that is unforgivable. I want to promise you it was nothing person, and I didn’t go through any of your personal belongings. I’ve been having a very tough time financially and I made the worst mistake of my life.

I regretted it immediatly afterwards… I can’t put into words how sorry I am.

Please accept everything I took plus $50 for repairing the screen. I will also commit to at least 15 hours of community service to help partially atone for what I’ve done. This is the first and last time I will ever commit a crime.

If I could do more for you I would but I can’t reveal myself since getting caught would ruin my life.. Just another reason I’m so ashamed of what I’ve done.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/08/01/guelph-police/feed/9stdThe letter apologizing to a family in Guelph for stealing their possessions.Report on Elections Canada probe of mystery robocalls expected soonhttp://news.nationalpost.com/2012/05/18/report-on-elections-canada-probe-of-mystery-robocalls-expected-soon/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/05/18/report-on-elections-canada-probe-of-mystery-robocalls-expected-soon/#commentsFri, 18 May 2012 20:25:28 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=174937

A year ago Saturday, Elections Canada investigator Al Mathews, a soft-spoken former Mountie with a moustache, travelled from Ottawa to Guelph, rented a suite in the Holiday Inn, and sat down to interview voters who had received an automated phone call on election day telling them to go to the wrong polling station.

“It was very formal,” said Susan Campbell, who was one of the witnesses who trooped down to the Holiday Inn that day, where Mathews conducted his interviews with a voice recorder on the table.

“He explained what he was doing, all that stuff. He asked me tons of questions.”

The interview with Campbell and other Guelph voters Mathews spoke with in the following days formed the starting point for the politically charged robocalls investigation that now appears to be drawing to an end.

Soon, it is expected, Mathews will file a report to his boss, Commissioner of Canada Elections William Corbett. It will be up to Corbett to decide whether Mathews’ findings warrant referring the case to the director of public prosecutions, who will decide if Elections Canada should lay charges under the Elections Act.

The day charges are laid, the public will finally know the identity of the person alleged to be Pierre Poutine, the culprit who sent hundreds of voters on a fool’s errand to the polling station at the Quebec Street Mall.

But the greater consequences, politically, depends on whether the fraudulent robocalls were the work of a single mischief maker on the local campaign, or a more co-ordinated effort with a trail of evidence leading deeper into the Conservative Party’s national campaign.

Most voters Mathews interviewed in Guelph told him they had earlier received voter-identification calls from the Conservative campaign, which meant they were tagged in the party’s database as opposition supporters.

Mathews noted that Campbell’s husband, John, was the Green Party candidate in the riding, “so their voting intention could be easily determined.”

Mathews recorded that observation in an Information to Obtain a Production Order — a legal document he filed in Ottawa on June 8, 2011, seeking records from Bell Canada for the Joliette, Que., phone number — 450-760-7746 — used to make the deceptive calls.

It was the first of many applications for court orders that Mathews filed as he followed the trail to servers at Internet providers and phone companies all around North America. In the most recently released court order, Mathews finally followed the trail back to Guelph — when he received subscriber information for the Rogers Internet account that appears to have been used to set up the election-day call.

After the account number was published last week, several Guelph Conservatives at the heart of the Elections Canada investigation all checked their account numbers and claimed they were in the clear.

Campaign manager Ken Morgan and campaign workers Michael Sona and Andrew Prescott have all apparently told others that the account doesn’t belong to any of them.

And the account number is not the same as the numbers that appear on receipts filed with Elections Canada by the campaign of Conservative candidate Marty Burke.

In his application for the court order to Rogers, Mathews relies heavily on information provided by Matt Meier, owner of RackNine, the Edmonton voice-broadcasting company that was used to send the deceptive robocalls.

In November, when Mathews approached him with a production order demanding records, Meier was not able to produce the IP address used by the person who sent the calls. After the Ottawa Citizen and Postmedia News broke the robocall story in February, Meier was under intense and uncomfortable media coverage, including attacks that the NDP subsequently apologized for making.

In March, Meier went public to claim that he had found a key piece of evidence. Frustrated by the damaging coverage, he stayed up one night combing through session logs and found an electronic link that seems to show that the person who sent the calls also was signing into RackNine’s servers from the same Internet Protocol (IP) address used by someone who accessed Prescott’s account.

Prescott, who cancelled an interview with Mathews in March on his lawyer’s advice, has repeatedly publicly stated that he had nothing to do with the calls. Others involved with the Guelph campaign say they don’t think he was involved, and say he is unfairly bearing the brunt for a scheme carried out by others.

One source who has spoken to Mathews says the investigator said there is a limit to how far a case can be built on just an IP address.

And sources say that people with knowledge of the inner workings of the Burke campaign have not been forthcoming with investigators.

“The guys are waiting it out,” said one person who spoke on condition of anonymity. “From my understanding, their lawyers are just saying there’s nothing they can do to stick it to them.”

The small group of people who are believed to have knowledge of the vote-suppression scheme appear to be in communication with one another but they are said not to be spilling the beans, hoping that if they all hold their tongues, Elections Canada won’t have enough facts to make a case.

“I think they’re looking for evidence they’re not going to find,” said a source. “There’s solidarity in silence and as long as nobody talks they can’t pin it on anybody.”

Mathews does not give interviews and Elections Canada won’t comment on the ongoing investigations, but sources with knowledge of the investigation believe it is nearing completion.

One source says that Mathews began last week writing the report that Corbett will send to the director of public prosecutions Brian Saunders, who will decide if there are grounds for charges to be laid under the Elections Act.

Mathews is said to be awaiting some information, but another source with knowledge of the process says he can file his report even if the investigation continues.

“It doesn’t mean the investigation is necessarily over.”

The last major case that Elections Canada referred to Saunders, the in-and-out allegations against the Conservatives over their financing of the 2006 election, eventually led to charges against the party and four officials, including senators Doug Finley and Irving Gerstein. They were accused of breaching the party’s spending limit with a complex scheme to pay for $1.3 million in advertising with wire transfers that shuttled money between the national and local campaigns.

Charges against the four were later dropped when the party agreed to plead guilty to Elections Act charges and pay $52,000 in fines. The prosecutor said the outcome was preferable to a trial because, had the four officials been convicted, the fines would not have been any stiffer.

While the Tories aggressively defended the in-and-out allegations and attacked Elections Canada for alleged bias, the party has taken a much different approach to the Guelph robocalls probe.

The most recent court filings make it plain that Mathews has been working with Conservative Party lawyer Arthur Hamilton as he pursues the case.

Hamilton has been arranging and sitting in on interviews with party workers who meet with Mathews, and providing him with electronic records.

Conservative sources say the party has opened its doors to investigators, encouraging staffers to share whatever they know about what happened in Guelph.

Senior officials insist that whatever happened was the work of a small group in Guelph, and had nothing to do with campaign headquarters in Ottawa, where chairman Guy Giorno was running a tight ship.

Sources have said, though, that Mathews has asked witnesses pointed questions about missing data in electronic records he received from the party, which suggests investigators may not have ruled out the idea that the central party had something to do with the calls.

And investigators at the agency are looking into reports that similar calls were made in ridings across Canada.

After the story broke in February, Elections Canada was inundated by complaints. Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand testified in front of a parliamentary committee in March that the agency has received 800 specific complaints from 200 ridings across Canada.

Investigators have interviewed voters who received calls sending them to the wrong polling stations after receiving voter-identification calls in which they stated they did not plan to vote for the Conservatives, the same pattern Mathews observed in Guelph a year ago.

That investigation is ongoing.

Postmedia News

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/05/18/report-on-elections-canada-probe-of-mystery-robocalls-expected-soon/feed/2stdProtesters gather and chant at Toronto's Yonge Dundas Square, Sunday afternoon, March 11, 2012. Soon, the day charges are laid, the public will finally know the identity of the person alleged to be Pierre Poutine, the culprit who sent hundreds of voters on a fool’s errand to the polling station at the Quebec Street MallConservative alleges ‘live calls’ misled supporters in electionhttp://news.nationalpost.com/2012/04/09/conservative-alleges-live-calls-misled-supporters-in-election/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/04/09/conservative-alleges-live-calls-misled-supporters-in-election/#commentsMon, 09 Apr 2012 18:48:50 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=159782

Conservative supporters were targeted with misleading phone calls from a person claiming to be an election official, according to a new complaint filed from the riding where the majority of the “Pierre Poutine” robocalls were made.

The complaint, made by the campaign manager for the Conservative candidate in the riding of Guelph, Ont., said some Tory supporters were falsely told their polling station had been moved.

Postmedia News and the Ottawa Citizen first revealed in February ongoing Elections Canada investigations into misleading calls in Guelph and other ridings during last year’s federal election.

Nearly 7,000 robocalls made on election day during last May’s federal election have been linked to “Pierre Poutine,” but Ken Morgan’s complaint to Elections Canada says there was a live caller delivering the misinformation, according to the Globe and Mail.

The number behind the live call led to a recording stating “This is the Conservative Party of Canada.”

Morgan said in his complaint, obtained by the Globe, that the call did not come from the Conservatives.

The Liberals complained that the same number, 519-479-0031, had previously been used to misdirect a voter in a Kitchener, Ont. riding.

Conservative spokesperson Fred DeLorey said in a statement in December that the number belonged to a call centre hired by his party, Responsive Marketing Group, but that the call was a “mistake.”

Elections Canada has received about 800 specific complaints of similarly misleading phone calls in about 200 ridings across the country.

The hunt for the person behind the robocalls has mostly centred on the mysterious Pierre Poutine.

The calls, sent out by Edmonton company RackNine, misdirected voters to fake polling stations causing chaos in the Guelph riding.

The search for Pierre Poutine began with the number 450-760-7746, which Elections Canada traced to a disposable cellphone in the Joliette, Quebec area. The phone was bought with cash and then used by “Pierre Poutine” to call RackNine.

The National Post revealed in March that Matt Meier, owner of RackNine, traced the individual responsible to a Rogers IP address in Guelph, Ont. and forwarded the information to Elections Canada.

Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand said the fraudulent calls should not be tolerated in a democracy.

“Whether it was organized or bigger or whatever, the fact that electors, at least that we know in Guelph, were misdirected by calls falsely made on behalf of Elections Canada is absolutely outrageous,” he told the Procedure and House Affairs Committee in March.

Liberal MP Frank Valeriote won his Guelph riding in May 2011 by a margin of about 6,000 votes over the Conservative candidate, Marty Burke.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/04/09/conservative-alleges-live-calls-misled-supporters-in-election/feed/2std"Robbie the Friendly Robot," an Ottawa man who turned out by pure coincidence in his Halloween costume as an April Fools gag, was in character and pleasing camera clicking tourists while protesters showed up in small numbers on Parliament Hill on a rainy Sunday afternoon to bring attention to the recent robocall scandal, in Ottawa on April 1, 2012.Robocall ridings face legal challenge to overturn federal election resultshttp://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/27/activist-group-files-legal-challenge-to-overturn-election-results-in-robocall-ridings/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/27/activist-group-files-legal-challenge-to-overturn-election-results-in-robocall-ridings/#commentsTue, 27 Mar 2012 12:28:44 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=155533

By Stephen Maher and Glen McGregor

A citizen advocacy group is asking the Federal Court of Canada to overturn election results in seven ridings where telephone dirty tricks may have kept voters away from the polls.

The Council of Canadians says pre-recorded robocalls and live calls influenced the outcome of votes in closely fought races in British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Yukon and Ontario.

The group is backing the first legal challenge of election results since the Ottawa Citizen and Postmedia News revealed ongoing Elections Canada investigations into misleading election day calls in Guelph and other ridings.

The organization’s lawyers filed four applications in court on Friday and was due to file three more Monday, all seeking have the results of the votes set aside.

The applications claim that irregular, fraudulent or illegal activities affected the outcome in each of the seven ridings.

All of the ridings named were won by Conservative candidates and all but one was decided by fewer than 1,000 votes.

The Council of Canadians is an Ottawa-based left-of-centre organization chaired by activist Maude Barlow and originally formed to oppose the Free Trade Agreement with the U.S. in the 1980s.

The voter suppression tactics alleged in the litigation include “calls that misdirected electors to the wrong poll or calls of a harassing nature intended to discourage support for a particular candidate,” said Ottawa lawyer Steven Shrybman, who represents the council.

Shrybman said these cases test new ground by asking the court to weigh the effects of a pattern of voter suppression, not just specific acts that have characterized the few legal challenges of past election results.

“We don’t know exactly what the standards will be,” he said. “How do you measure the effect of voter suppression techniques on the result?”

Under section 524 of the Elections Act, any elector or candidate in a riding can launch a legal challenge of the outcome before a competent court. Each of the seven Council of Canadians applications is filed on behalf of named electors in the ridings.

The ridings involved in Council of Canadians cases were chosen because electors came forward and the margins of victory were comparatively small, meaning there is a reasonable basis to believe the alleged irregularities changed the result, Shrybman said.

“We think we have some good evidence about how effective robocalling is but on our evidence, a 6,000-vote margin would be hard to overcome.”

• Winnipeg South Centre, where Liberal Anita Neville was defeated by Conservative Joyce Batemen by 722 votes. Neville said on the eve of the election and on election day, Liberal voters in her riding received calls directing them to the wrong polling station, and earlier in the campaign, voters received harassing calls from fake Liberal callers.

• Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar, where Conservative Kelly Block held off a challenge from New Democrat Nettie Wiebe, by 538 votes.

• Vancouver Island North, where Conservative John Duncan, now minister of aboriginal affairs, won over New Democrat Ronna-Rae Leonard by 1,827 votes. According to the Comox Valley Record, some voters in the riding have reported receiving automated calls directing them to non-existent polling stations.

• Yukon, where Liberal incumbent Larry Bagnell was defeated by Conservative Ryan Leef by 132 votes. The Yukon News has reported that identified opposition supporters in the riding received calls telling them their polling station had moved. Elections Canada has interviewed witnesses in the riding.

• Nipissing-Timiskaming in northern Ontario, where Conservative Jay Aspin beat incumbent Liberal MP Anthony Rota by 18 votes. A Liberal source said Rota didn’t want to be seen as a sore loser by launching his own challenge.

• Elmwood-Transcona in Manitoba, where Conservative Lawrence Toet defeated New Democrat incumbent Jim Maloway by 300 votes. The NDP says voters in the riding have reported receiving calls directing them to the wrong polling stations.

Not included in the legal action is Etobicoke-Centre, where former Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj is funding his own legal challenge of the outcome after losing to Conservative Ted Opitz by 26 votes in the May 2 election.

Also not included is the riding of Guelph, the epicentre of the robocalls scandal, where Liberal Frank Valeriote won by more than 6,000 votes, despite more than 7,600 calls that fraudulently directed voters to the wrong polling stations.

If it is convinced that irregular or illegal acts changed the outcome, the court can void the results and trigger a byelection in each riding affected. But even if the Tories were to lose byelections in all seven ridings, they would still hold a majority of seats in the House of Commons.

Shrybman said he hopes the cases will be heard quickly.

“If this remedy is to have any utility, it has to be provided quickly,” he said, though he admitted it likely would take at least a year to resolve.

It would be faster than other federal court cases, however, because any decisions would be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada, with the additional step of a hearing before the Federal Court of Appeal.

The organization hopes that it can use its lawsuit to discover the volume of deceptive or fraudulent calls in other ridings, by convincing a judge to order phone carriers to turn over records showing how many calls were placed into each riding from numbers associated with suspicious calls.

The respondents in all the cases are Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand, the returning officers in each riding, and all candidates on the ballot in each riding.

On Thursday, Mayrand is scheduled to discuss the robocalls scandal with MPs on the Procedure and House Affairs Committee.

Mayrand recently offered to come to committee, and was scheduled by the government to appear on the same day that most political journalists in Ottawa will be in the federal budget “lockup.”

The last time a court overturned a federal election result was 1988, when an Ontario Supreme court judge found that the number of questionable ballots cast in the Toronto-area riding of North York was greater than the margin of victory by Liberal Maurizio Bevilacqua. Bevilacqua won the subsequent election.

Nobody has said that they were prevented from voting by fraudulent or misdirecting calls during the election, although Elections Canada officials reported in court documents that angry voters in Guelph tore up their voter cards in when they discovered that they had been tricked.

The fraudulent calls that misdirected voters across Canada are grounds “for a f–king huge investigation,” Stephen Harper’s former chief of staff said in an email to a reporter this week.

REUTERS/Chris WattieIan Brodie.

Ian Brodie, who was not involved in the 2011 election campaign, made the comment in an email that was not intended for publication but that was posted online after a misunderstanding.

Brodie’s comments have a strikingly different tone than the official Conservative talking points, in which any reports of misleading calls beyond Guelph are dismissed as baseless smears by sore losers on the opposition benches.

“Something seems to have gone on, on a scale I’ve never seen before,” Brodie wrote to Globe and Mail columnist Lawrence Martin, then joked: “As you may be aware, I am a strong proponent of the death penalty for this sort of thing.”

Martin, who didn’t realize the comments were not for publication, posted them in a story on iPolitics.ca, which the political website later took down.

Brodie was the chief of staff in the Prime Minister’s Office from 2006 until 2008.

Brodie’s comments were published a few hours after the National Post revealed that the mysterious “Pierre Poutine” demon-dialed his way through five area codes.

The unnamed individual behind misleading ‘robocalls’ during the last federal election misdirected 5,053 voters in Guelph, Ont.’s 519 area code, but also called 74 people in suburban Toronto’s 905 area code, 35 people in Toronto’s 416, 22 in the 705 area of northern Ontario, 14 in 613 — which includes Kingston and Ottawa — and one person in Thunder Bay, the Post’s John Ivison reported on Friday.

Conservatives suggest that the pattern shows Poutine may have downloaded a list of Guelph opposition supporters that was clogged by bad data, which would explain why voters beyond the riding have complained of receiving the robodial directing them to the wrong polling station.

An industry expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity, agreed that may be what happened.

“It just means they didn’t take the time to scroll through the list of phone numbers and delete them,” he said.

There are unverified reports from some voters, though, that they received recorded calls similar to the Guelph call, directing them not to the Quebec Street Mall location in Guelph, but to locations in other ridings.

Some of those calls may have come from telephone numbers other than that assigned to the Joliette, Que., “burner” phone that Poutine used for his misdirection campaign.

If those reports are confirmed, it would suggest that the mysterious Poutine was acting beyond Guelph, recording a series of messages designed to bamboozle voters in different ridings.

In Montreal on Friday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said his party is helping Elections Canada with its investigation.

“I’ve repeated a number of times that all our calls are documented,” he said. “They are available to Elections Canada. Of course, serious things did occur in Guelph and for months now we have been helping Elections Canada to carry out its investigation.” Harper also called on the other parties to do the same.

The Conservatives are believed to have provided Elections Canada with an electronic clone of its massive Constituency Information Management System, which would include detailed logs showing who downloaded which lists.

Investigators may have been able, therefore, to match up the Pierre Poutine list with a specific download from CIMS.

Brodie said in an email to Martin that the culprit may not have needed to have access to CIMS, because so much information about voters is available from public sources, including Elections Canada, which lists donations.

“If you gave me an hour, I could cull a list of known Liberal and NDP supporters that added up to more than ten thousand names — using nothing but the Elections Canada website! And if I had a reasonably competent amateur programmer, I could match my list of known supporters to home telephone numbers in a single afternoon. Five cents per name and a few quotes from a few demon dial companies and there you go — a very large calling campaign.

REUTERS/Chris WattieConservative Member of Parliament Dean Del Mastro speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa March 15, 2012.

Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro, told CBC news Friday that the calls directing people to the wrong polling stations may have been “mistakes.” He also pointed out that no one has yet come forward to say that they failed to vote because of a misleading call.

“Some of these things, as I’ve already indicated, could have well been mistakes,” he said on CBC’s Power & Politics. “I don’t understand why folks jump to these things and run to a conclusion that they have no evidence of.”

Elections Canada has been on the trail of Poutine since the election, laboriously following his electronic trail with a series of subpeonas delivered to telephone companies, which led to RackNine, an Edmonton robocall firm. From there, with the help of RackNine CEO Matt Meier, investigator Al Mathews traced the Internet protocall address to a single Rogers high-speed internet account in Guelph, sources say.

Amidst contradictory and confusing media reports relying on anonymous sources, investigators have begun interviewing member of the campaign team of former Guelph Conservative candidate Marty Burke. Several members of the team have hired lawyers.

Nobody has presented evidence linking any of those people to the Poutine account, which was carefully shielded by someone who purchased a pre-paid cellphone with a pre-paid credit card, using two false addresses, including the home address of Poutine, on Separatist Street in Joliette, Que.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/17/pierre-poutine-robocalls-grounds-for-huge-investigation-former-top-harper-aide/feed/4stdProtesters march on Yonge Street in Toronto, Sunday afternoon, March 11, 2012, on what organizers called the National Day of Action Against Election Fraud.Ian Brodie.Conservative Member of Parliament Dean Del Mastro speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa March 15, 2012.Robocalls suspect left digital trail that could lead to real identity of ‘Pierre Poutine’http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/06/robocalls-suspect-left-digital-trail-that-could-lead-to-real-identity-of-pierre-poutine/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/06/robocalls-suspect-left-digital-trail-that-could-lead-to-real-identity-of-pierre-poutine/#commentsWed, 07 Mar 2012 02:31:53 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=148570

By Stephen Maher and Glen McGregor

OTTAWA — The mysterious “Pierre Poutine” at the centre of the robocalls scandal used a real street address in Quebec when he set up an account to send out misleading election day messages and left a digital trail that could help investigators discover his true identity.

The suspect behind the pseudonym spoke to the owner of Edmonton call centre RackNine when he opened an account to use the company’s voice-broadcasting services — but gave another, more believable name.

“He did not address himself as Pierre Poutine with me,” said RackNine owner Matt Meier, recounting what appears to be the only known telephone conversation with the shadowy suspect.

Elections Canada investigators believe a disposable cellphone registered in Poutine’s name and under the fictitious address “Separatist Street” in Joliette, Quebec, was the origin of a disinformation campaign to misdirect voters in Guelph, Ont., and possibly other ridings.

But Meier said the street address the caller provided was a real address in Joliette, a small town about half-an-hour northeast of Montreal.

Meier looked up the address up on Google Maps and it appeared legitimate, but admits he doesn’t now know whether it actually belonged to the customer who opened the account.

“I know what the place looks like,” he said. “It looked very much like this was a legitimate person making a legitimate call.

“It could very well be this is the exact address and they just haven’t charged the guy yet.”

The call to RackNine came a few days before the May 2 election day, when the customer used his account to launch the robocall blitz sending electors to the wrong polling stations.

The customer’s account with the online payment service PayPal, used to fund the voice broadcasts, also checked out, Meier said.

Meier declined to provide the name the customer gave or offer further details about the conversation because he doesn’t want to jeopardize the ongoing Elections Canada investigation.

Meier says RackNine had no knowledge the customer was using the account for the misleading calls until Elections Canada arrived at his offices in November, armed with a production order. The agency says RackNine is not suspected of any wrongdoing. The company has been providing technical assistance to Elections Canada investigator Allan Mathews, the former RCMP inspector leading the probe into robocalls made in Guelph, Meier said.

In court documents filed in Edmonton in November, Mathews described how he had traced the prepaid Virgin Mobile phone registered to the pseudonymous Poutine.

It is unclear whether Poutine ever set foot in Joliette. Records produced by Bell Canada, Virgin Mobile’s parent, showed that the outgoing calls made with the phone came from Guelph.

Sources close to the investigation say the “burner phone” in question was purchased not in Joliette, but at a convenience store in Guelph.

The records Mathews obtained from RackNine were listed in a December court filing in Alberta. They included computer files with call logs and other details from at least two separate accounts, one under the name “pierres” and the other under the name “Andrew Prescott.”

Prescott served as deputy campaign manager to Guelph Conservative candidate Marty Burke. He says all the calls he made using his RackNine account were above board and denies any role in making the fake Elections Canada calls.

Mathews also obtained information for three PayPal accounts, the Dec. 19 filing says.

An Ontario court has issued a production order requiring PayPal to provide records to Mathews. The document will not become public until Mathews files a statement with the court saying he has received the records.

A source close to the investigation says the PayPal payment to RackNine was made using a prepaid gift credit card that could, like the “burner” cellphone, prove difficult to track down.

More interesting to investigators, however, is the Internet Protocol (IP) address recorded by PayPal when the suspect connected to the payment site to create his account.

If the customer logged on to PayPal from a traceable address, Mathews could file another production order on the corresponding Internet service provider and obtain the name of the account holder.

But if Poutine was clever and always logged into PayPal from a coffee shop or public Wi-Fi node, tracking him could be harder.

Elections Canada investigators, who never comment on ongoing investigations, may already have connected the PayPal account to the real Poutine.

After months of patiently following the electronic trail, last week they began interviewing people who worked on the Conservative campaign in Guelph.

In recent days, investigators also have launched probes into reports of misdirected voters in the northern Ontario ridings of Nipissing-Timiskaming and Thunder Bay, where several workers at a call centre run by Responsive Marketing Group, the Conservatives’ main provider of telephone services, called the RCMP on election day because they were concerned about the directions they were providing to voters.

The agency also launched an online form for Canadians who received misleading calls during the election campaign.

Veteran Liberal election lawyer Jack Siegel said he has never seen anything like this.

“They are taking it very very seriously,” he said. “This is not a typical investigation as carried out by the commissioner’s office in the past.”

Siegel was the lawyer for Anthony Rota, the former Liberal MP who lost Nipissing-Timiskaming by 18 votes on election day. He said that if enough voters report that they were dissuaded from voting by deceptive calls, a judge might order a byelection.

“Now you have something that could conceivably be relevant to the seat distribution in the House of Commons,” he said. “It’s one seat, but my God. It’s a seat. It’s who represents people.”

Both the Conservatives and Responsive Marketing Group have strenuously denied misdirecting non-Conservative voters in the run-up to the May 2 vote. The Conservatives have suggested that the Liberals may be responsible for misdirecting their own supporters.

OTTAWA — Elections Canada investigators probing the robocalls scandal are interviewing workers on the Conservative campaign in Guelph, Ont., and trying to determine why payments made to an Edmonton voice-broadcasting company were not declared in financial reports filed with the agency.

In recent days, the agency has spoken to at least three workers from the campaign of Conservative candidate Marty Burke, including the official agent responsible for ensuring the campaign’s financial report was accurate.

Elections Canada wants to know why the costs of automated calls the campaign has admitted sending out never appeared in the campaign’s expense report, as required by law.

Andrew Prescott, the deputy campaign manager, said he is co-operating with the investigation and handing over bills he received from RackNine Inc. for a series of robocalls promoting Burke events during the election.

The same company was used to transmit misleading Elections Canada calls on election day.

Prescott maintains he had no role in the fake Elections Canada calls that directed voters to the wrong polling stations.

Prescott said Monday that he had given his campaign manager invoices for the calls but could not explain why the expenses did not appear on the financial report sent to Elections Canada.

He said he used a RackNine account he held through his own company, Prescoan, to place the automated calls announcing Burke campaign events. He said he then submitted invoices to the campaign for these costs.

“I gave them to the campaign manager,” Prescott said. “There was definitely no effort to hide anything or obscure anything.”

There is no record of these expenses anywhere in the Burke campaign return, however.

Meanwhile, Elections Canada is also investigating records at PayPal, an online payment and money transfer service, the Globe and Mail has reported, and is using a court order to ask the company to hand over information as a part of the Guelph investigation.

Burke’s unsuccessful campaign against Liberal incumbent Frank Valeriote was managed by Ken Morgan, a former candidate for city council in Guelph. Burke has not spoken publicly since the robocalls controversy and has not responded to emails requesting comment. Postmedia was unable to reach Morgan.

It is unclear why the Burke campaign did not report the costs Prescott said he submitted. Failing to declare campaign expenses is a breach of the Elections Act.

The detailed expense claims submitted to the Burke campaign included receipts for everything from local advertising costs, gasoline and pizza for campaign workers. But the Burke campaign’s accountant, Abdul-Qayum Ali, said he never received any invoices for RackNine.

The campaign’s bills typically were given by staff to Morgan and then passed on to him, said Ali who, as official agent, was responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the expense report.

Ali said he was contacted by Elections Canada last week and asked if there were any other invoices he hadn’t submitted to the agency. There were not, he said.

Elections Canada’s investigators have traced the fraudulent robocalls misdirecting voters in Guelph from a disposable cellphone purchased under the pseudonym “Pierre Poutine” in Joliette, Que. The phone was used to call RackNine to record the outgoing call sent to voters in Guelph.

RackNine says it was unaware its service was used to place the calls.

Prescott said he set up an account with RackNine in 2010 that he had used for other provincial and municipal election campaigns.

A sworn statement filed by Elections Canada investigator Al Mathews lists 31 calls made to RackNine from four phones associated with the Burke campaign to RackNine, including two on election day. Most of the calls were to a customer service log-in number.

In Mathews’ sworn statement, he writes that it is “reasonable to conclude that the absence of an expense report . . . is inconsistent with the pattern” of the calls.

Prescott would not say how much the various calls cost.

Prescott said he has spoken with Mathews by phone and has another meeting scheduled in the near future.

Before the robocalls story first broke last month, Prescott told the Ottawa Citizen he had paid for RackNine bills himself and was reimbursed by the campaign through the $1,100 he was paid.

But an agreement signed by Morgan and Ali on March 26, at the beginning of the campaign, shows Prescott was always to be paid $1,100 as an honourium for providing “general labour” on the campaign.

Other campaign workers who had similar agreements in place were reimbursed for the costs they incurred during the course of the campaign. But there is no sign of any expenses Prescott incurred.

In a blog post in July, not long after the election, Prescott described himself as a “cellphone expert.”

“Being an IT guy, and being the resident cellphone expert amongst my friends and political circles, people ask me for advice on who’s got the best deals for cellphones.”

HandoutMichael Sona (left), a Tory staffer who worked in Guelph during the Election campaign, resigned shortly after the robocalls scandal broke.

The Guelph Mercury reported last week that Elections Canada, which started the investigation in May, interviewed campaign worker Michael Sona last Tuesday for the first time.

Sona, who was director of communications for the Burke campaign, made headlines during the campaign when he tried to shut down a special ballot being held for university students by trying to grab the ballot box.

He was first associated with this story when Sun TV reported that senior Conservatives believed he was a person of interest to the investigation. Sona soon resigned from his job working for Conservative MP Eve Adams.

After Defence Minister Peter MacKay suggested Sona was responsible for the misdirection in Guelph, Sona issued a statement denying it.

“I have remained silent to this point with the hope that the real guilty party would be apprehended,” he said in a statement to CTV News. “The rumours continue to swirl, and media are now involving my family, so I feel that it is imperative that I respond. I had no involvement in the fraudulent phone calls, which also targeted our supporters as can be attested to by our local campaign team and phone records.”

The Conservatives have steadfastly denied any knowledge of voter suppression calls by higher-ups. On Sunday, Conservative campaign chairman Guy Giorno said he hopes investigators get to the bottom of it.

“I wish Godspeed to Elections Canada and the RCMP investigators,” he told CTV. “We want them to get to the bottom of this and let’s hope the full weight of the law is applied to any and all.”

In Mathews’ sworn statement, he describes an interview with Central Poll Supervisor Laurie Rotenburg, who was running the polls at the Old Quebec Street Mall in Guelph when 150 to 200 deceived voters showed up to vote.

“He observed that many of the misdirected voters responded with anger that a dirty trick had been played,” Mathews wrote. “Many were upset. Some electors just stormed out of the polling location. Several ripped up their Voter Information Card.”

With files from the National Post

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/06/conservative-campaign-spending-records-under-elections-canada-microscope-in-robocalls-investigation/feed/12stdA sign from a demonstration against last year's election campaign on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Mar. 5, 2012. An investigation into alleged dirty tricks during last year's election campaign has been broadened after the number of complaints snowballed into the tens of thousands, according to Elections Canada.Michael Sona (left), a Tory staffer who worked in Guelph during the Election campaign, resigned shortly after the robocalls scandal broke. Young Tory staffer who resigned amid robocalls scandal denies involvementhttp://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/29/young-tory-staffer-who-resigned-amid-robocalls-scandal-denies-involvement/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/29/young-tory-staffer-who-resigned-amid-robocalls-scandal-denies-involvement/#commentsWed, 29 Feb 2012 15:39:06 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=145960

The Conservative Party’s attempts to contain the robocall scandal unfolding across the country received a major setback today after a young Tory staffer suspected of being involved with the misleading phone messages denied any involvement in the campaign.

Michael Sona, 23, last week resigned from his post working for MP Eve Adams roughly 24 hours after a Postmedia News investigation reported evidence of a “systematic voter-suppression campaign” against Liberals in tight ridings during last May’s federal election.

But last night Mr. Sona claimed he had “no involvement in the fraudulent phone calls.”

“I wish to address the allegations and accusations levelled against me in the media over the last six days. I have remained silent to this point with the hope that the real guilty party would be apprehended. The rumours continue to swirl, and media are now involving my family, so I feel that it is imperative that I respond.

I had no involvement in the fraudulent phone calls, which also targeted our supporters as can be attested to by our local campaign team and phone records. On Thursday, I offered my resignation to my employer. The role of a staffer is to assist their employer in their responsibilities, and that was impossible to accomplish with the media continually repeating these rumours. It is for that reason and that reason alone that I resigned from my position.”

Mr. Sona’s statement further complicates the Tory Party’s damage control efforts after it was suggested a ‘rogue agent’ could have been behind the misleading phone calls.

Voters in ridings across Canada have reported receiving automated and live calls, purportedly from the Conservatives, that gave out erroneous information. Some of the calls told voters their polling locations had changed, while others allegedly impersonated Liberal candidates and deliberately called at inconvenient times.

Sona worked in Guelph for Conservative candidate Marty Burke during the federal election campaign.

In Parliament on Wednesday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper will likely face further pressure from opposition parties to pin the responsibility for the allegedly fraudulent calls on someone.

“We’re sending new evidence to Elections Canada daily, Mr. Speaker.… The belt is tightening and somebody’s going to go to jail,” said the NDP’s Pat Martin in Question Period on Tuesday. “Someone on those front benches knows who did what and when, and you can’t scapegoat some young kid for a scandal of this magnitude.”

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, interim Liberal leader Bob Rae said he is concerned Elections Canada may not have the resources it needs to undertake an investigation.

“It appears to us that Elections Canada doesn’t have the necessary resources to really investigate as it should be investigated, said Mr. Rae, speaking in French. “We’re going to continue with our efforts to see what’s really happening.”

When a reporter raised the possibility of the robocall issue going in front of an ethics committee, Mr. Rae said the investigation needs to be conducted outside of Parliament.

“Frankly, I believe that this is an issue that has to be settled independent of Parliament,” he said. “You’re asking the … Conservatives to look at themselves. And they’re going to look in the mirror and think they’re all really good looking and everything’s fine, so I don’t think that’s a sensible approach.”

Fraudulent robocalls that misdirected voters in Guelph came from a Virgin Mobile disposable cellphone registered to a fabricated owner called Pierre Poutine, of Separatist Street, in Joliette, Que., according to court documents obtained by Postmedia News.

The obviously fabricated name appears to have been a ruse to evade detection in the event the number was ever investigated. The “Pierre Poutine” phone was activated April 30, two days before the election, and called only two numbers other than its own voice mail.

Reuters filesPrime Minister Stephen Harper in the House of Commons.

Both corresponded to RackNine, the Conservative-linked voice-broadcasting firm that was used by whoever made the fraudulent calls into Guelph, causing chaos at a polling station.

Pierre’s Poutine is a restaurant in Guelph owned by Pierre LaChappelle. LaChappelle has stated that he knows nothing about the robocalls and seemed surprised at the attention he received Tuesday.

Details of the phone account are contained in a series of sworn statements by Elections Canada investigator Al Mathews to support requests for court orders to produce records as part of the agency’s ongoing investigation.

The documents show Elections Canada received two complaints about the same number being used to misdirect voters in Windsor, Ont. — the first evidence to suggest more than one riding was targeted by a campaign to confuse and discourage non-Conservative voters, a technique known as vote suppression.

Because the phone was prepaid, no billing information was available. But according to a source familiar with the investigation, credit card records Elections Canada obtained from RackNine lead to a billing address and, perhaps, the hidden identity of the unknown person or people who bought the Poutine phone.

Adam Gagnon for Postmedia NewsPierre LaChappelle, owner of Pierre's Poutine, chats with customers outside his shop in Guelph, Ont.. Court documents show fake election calls came from a "burner" cellphone registered to "Pierre Poutine," listing a Joliette, Quebec address. LaChappelle has stated that he knows nothing of the calls, and seemed surprised at the attention from the media.

Mathews’ sworn statements details the complex Elections Canada investigation, aided by the RCMP’s commercial crime branch, as he executed a cascading series of production orders requiring telephone companies to hand over records, beginning last June.

These show that the phone was used to place three calls to RackNine’s toll-free numbers on April 30, possibly to set up an account.

Then, the day before the election, May 1, the phone was used to make seven calls to RackNine from somewhere in Guelph, Mathews’ sworn statement says.

RackNine’s service allows anyone with an account to record an outgoing message, upload a phone number list, and send out the calls using the company’s VoIP system.

The call logs also show the phone received six text messages from numbers in Anaheim and Pasadena, Calif. The originator of these calls is a mystery. “I cannot account for these calls at present,” Mathews’ statement says.

Mathews said he also was unable to explain an incoming voice call to the phone from a number in the area code for Fairport, N.Y., that lasted 21 seconds. Mathews said he got busy signals or out-of-service messages when he called these numbers.

Fairport is small village near Rochester, N.Y., and about a three-hour drive from Guelph.

The series of production orders Mathews obtained also produced a list of incoming calls to RackNine in Edmonton, including 31 associated with Marty Burke’s campaign.

These call logs show ongoing contact between RackNine and phones at the Burke campaign headquarters and the Guelph Conservative Electoral District Association starting on March 26 and continuing until election day.

Mathews found that the contact person given for those the campaign numbers was Andrew Prescott, Burke’s deputy campaign manager.

Prescott, who swears he had no role in the fraudulent calls, reportedly called RackNine on election day to send out a mass call warning Conservative supporters to disregard bogus calls, using his own account with the company.

Mathews’ list of calls does not mention the election day call to the cellphone of RackNine owner Matt Meier, which can be found on the campaign’s long distance phone records.

Meier says he had no knowledge of fraudulent calls placed using his company’s equipment.

A slew of former employees at a call centre in Thunder Bay revealed on Monday they were using a script to make live calls on behalf of the Conservative party that contained erroneous information about voting locations.

“We would call these (voters) and they would say ‘we went there and that’s not a real place,’” said a woman, who worked for Responsive Marketing Group Inc. as a call operator, and asked not to be named.

The Tories have countered claims of wrongdoing by repeatedly asking the other parties to submit evidence of possible electoral fraud to Elections Canada, while steadfastly maintaining they had done nothing wrong.

With files from Allison Cross, National Post

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/29/young-tory-staffer-who-resigned-amid-robocalls-scandal-denies-involvement/feed/4stdMichael Sona (left) and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the House of Commons. Pierre LaChappelle, owner of Pierre's Poutine, chats with customers outside his shop in Guelph, Ont., Tuesday. Court documents show fake election calls came from a "burner" cellphone registered to "Pierre Poutine," listing a Joliette, Quebec address. LaChappelle has stated that he knows nothing about such things, and seemed surprised at the attention from the media. Robocalls probe centres on disposable 'burner' cellphone linked to black ops in Guelph ridinghttp://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/28/robocalls-probe-centres-on-disposable-burner-cellphone-linked-to-guelph-black-ops/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/28/robocalls-probe-centres-on-disposable-burner-cellphone-linked-to-guelph-black-ops/#commentsTue, 28 Feb 2012 16:51:18 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=145545

By Stephen Maher and Glen McGregor

An Elections Canada investigation into black ops “robocalls” was focused on a Conservative party campaign in Guelph, Ont., documents obtained by Postmedia show.

A court order executed on an Edmonton call centre in November specifically refers to records related to the campaign of Conservative candidate Marty Burke in Guelph, where many voters reported receiving pre-recorded messages that falsely claimed their polling stations had moved.

Sources close to the investigation have indicated attention is now focused on a number assigned to a disposable “burner” cellphone, purchased with cash and then used to call RackNine.

The court order executed on RackNine

That a person or persons unknown, on May 2, 2011, at or near the City of Guelph and elsewhere in the Province of Ontario, did wilfully prevent or endeavour to prevent an elector from voting in an election contrary to paragraph 281 (g) of the Canada Elections Act;

And by so doing committed an offence contrary to paragraph 491 (3) (d) of the Canada Elections Act, S.C. 2000, c.9 as amended;

And that a person or persons unknown, on May 2, 2011, at or near the City of Guelph and elsewhere in the Province of Ontario, did, by pretence or contrivance, induce or attempt to induce persons to vote or refrain from voting or to vote or refrain from voting for a particular candidate and by so doing committed an offence contrary to paragraph 482 (b) of the Canada Elections Act, S.C. 2000, c.9 as amended.

Since reports of that investigation came to light last week, Liberals and New Democrats have reported fraudulent calls in dozens of ridings across the country and the Conservatives have called on anyone with information to send it to Elections Canada.

A slew of former employees at a call centre in Thunder Bay, Ont., revealed on Monday they were using a script to make live calls on behalf of the Conservative party that contained erroneous information about voting locations.

“We would call these (voters) and they would say ‘we went there and that’s not a real place,’” said a woman, who worked for Responsive Marketing Group Inc. as a call operator, and asked not to be named.

“The whole call centre (noticed it was happening).”

“We called the RCMP,” she said. “We actually also told our supervisor about it.”

But no action was taken at the call centre and employees were told to stick to the script, the woman said.

Elections Canada couldn’t say whether what happened in Thunder Bay would be part of an investigation.

The Conservative party said Monday only identified supporters of their party would have received calls from the Thunder Bay call centre.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper was forced to deny any alleged wrongdoing in Parliament Monday. Interim NDP leader Nycole Turmel suggested byelections may be the only way to regain the trust of voters.

“Voters want the government to protect them against electoral fraud,” she said. “Is the prime minister prepared to force byelections to restore voter trust?”

Documents suggest the investigation by Elections Canada was more narrowly focused, at least in November.

Elections Canada now appears to be accelerating its probe of the Guelph campaign. An interview with one campaign worker, originally scheduled for several weeks from now, was pushed up to last week, after a Postmedia-Ottawa Citizen investigation revealed the extent of the agency’s efforts to track down the source of the calls.

A production order executed on RackNine Inc. in Edmonton compelled the company to turn over all emails, billing records and other correspondence between it and “the Conservative party general election campaign in Guelph.”

The court order also required the Conservative-connected company to hand over the user names, passwords and IP addresses of anyone associated with the Guelph campaign who used RackNine between March 26 and May 31.

The order also required RackNine to release records of calls that used the number 450-760-7746. The Bell Canada phone number in Joliette, Que., appeared on call displays of some recipients of the fraudulent election day calls in Guelph.

That number was assigned to a disposable “burner” cellphone, purchased with cash and then used to call RackNine.

The Conservatives ultimately lost Guelph, with candidate Marty Burke finishing more than 6,000 votes behind Liberal incumbent Frank Valeriote. Burke, who works as an airline pilot, was out of town this week and could not be reached.

The production order also shows Elections Canada suspects “a person or persons unknown” of committing some of the most serious offences listed under the Elections Act, including preventing or endeavouring to prevent electors from voting and inducing them to refrain from voting.

The offences carry maximum penalties of $5,000 fines, five years imprisonment or both.

The document was issued by Nov. 23 in Alberta provincial court. It was obtained based on sworn information from Al Mathews, the former RCMP inspector who is leading the investigation.

The detailed list of records covered by the production order specifies comprehensive listings of all schedules, recordings and the list of numbers of recipients of the calls in the 519 and 226 area codes on election day — a potentially enormous data set, depending on the numbers of calls made.

The owner of RackNine, Matt Meier, said he is co-operating fully with Elections Canada and providing the agency with whatever it needs. The production order makes clear that RackNine is not under investigation.

Meier says he and his family are getting crank calls and threats from people who believe he was party to attempted voter fraud. And he’s considering legal action, specifically against New Democrat MP Pat Martin and the federal New Democratic Party, for defamation.

“I’ve been misrepresented,” Meier insists. “We are not under investigation by Elections Canada in any way. Our goal is to assist them in identifying, catching, and hopefully convicting whoever was involved in this process. We want this person to be caught.”

Elections Canada acknowledges it is investigating the Guelph incident but has refused to comment on whether it is investigating allegations of other calls, including hard-to-track harassment calls traced to a North Dakota number often linked to credit card scams.

In 2008, when then-Conservative MP Gary Lunn was in a four-way race with star Green candidate Briony Penn in the British Columbia riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands, it looked as if her campaign would get a boost from the mid-campaign departure of NDP candidate Julian West.

West withdrew too late to have his name taken off the ballot. On election day, thousands of voters received a robocall urging them to vote for West, which the NDP didn’t send out.

Lunn, who won by 2,621 votes in 2008, was defeated by Elizabeth May in 2011.

Elections Canada did conduct an investigation, but concluded that calls supporting a legitimate candidate were not illegal, since the NDP candidate was actually on the ballot.

A complainant who talked to the investigator, though, said he was told they dropped the investigation because of the difficulty in tracing a “spoofed” caller-ID number.

Since then, Elections Canada seems to have improved its game. To trace the Guelph robocalls, investigators managed to trace the number, methodically tracking it from phone carrier to phone carrier to arrive at RackNine.

Joyce Murray, MP for Vancouver Quadra and one of only two West Coast Liberals in the House of Commons, said “several” supporters in her riding got late-night calls from people purporting to be Liberals who were “harassing and rude.”

The calls came from a number in North Dakota, the same U.S. state that, according to Postmedia News-Ottawa Citizen investigation, was the source of vote suppression calls in a number of ridings across Canada before the May 2 vote.

“This may be illegal and is what you might think a banana republic would do,” Murray said in an interview.

“We think this is highly undermining of our reputation as a fair and democratic country that adheres to the rule of law. Clearly this cannot be swept under the rug by the Conservatives as they’re trying to do.”

Murray later issued a statement through a spokeswoman saying that while she has no “absolutely no evidence” Tory rival Deborah Meredith or Meredith’s campaign team were involved in the calls, “it’s quite obvious who was set to gain from these calls.”

The Quadra campaign was a fairly close two-way race, with Murray taking 42.2 per cent of votes cast to Meredith’s 38.6 per cent. Meredith said Monday she knows “absolutely nothing” about alleged voter suppression calls and said such a tactic is “stupid.”

Elections Canada is now being inundated with complaints and reports of telephonic mischief from across the country.

Veteran election lawyer Jack Siegel, of Blaney McMurtry in Toronto, who often works for the Liberals, said nobody needs to wonder whether the agency will investigate.

“I would be very, very surprised other than they will take the whole array of calls for investigation and complaints of this happening elsewhere quite seriously,” he said. “I’ve got to question the resources they’ve got to bring to bear on it.”

Siegel said he has more often complained about overzealousness of Elections Canada than lassitude.

With files from Ryan Cormier and Paula Simons, Edmonton Journal, Peter O’Neil, Postmedia News, and the National Post

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/28/robocalls-probe-centres-on-disposable-burner-cellphone-linked-to-guelph-black-ops/feed/12stdPrime Minister Stephen Harper in the House of Commons.